what's love but the strangest of feelings
by suitheardt
Summary: When Mikan turns 15 all her friends prepare a big party. but no one would have thought that Mikan would end up crying her heart out, natsume being nice and Mikan remembering a promise which changes everything. Please R&R. Pairings MxN, others uncertain
1. The birthday party

Softly the snow glides down to the earth and transforms the ground to a white and pure landscape. Even in the busy Tokio the tiny ice-crystals flow through the air, slowing down all processes while the people stop and watch them fall from the cloudy sky.

In the center of the large city is a special escalator school for gifted children called 'Gakuen Alice'. The pupils there have special abilities and are supposed to develop those abilities to work for the government when they reach adultery.

It's the 1st January and some students prepare a surprise for a certain brunette girl, because today is her 15th birthday. While Mikan still sleeps, her friends decorate the room of the special ability class for the party. They all bought heaps of delicious snacks and drinks. One of her friends named 'Anna' who possesses the cooking alice had baked a cake with the high of 1 meter. At this sight the others make eyes like saucers.

"Are you sure we'll be able to eat this gigantic cake? "asked Koko the mind reader.

"Sure. That won't be a problem." stated Anna confidently.

Koko wanted to answer but then decided to just stay quiet. Rule number one for a peaceful live: never argue with a girl when there's no choice of winning.

In the meantime it was already past 10 o'clock and the gang wondered why the little miss sunshine isn't already running through the school to find them, to ask if they know which day it was. (yes, Mikan still asks this question every year ^^)

… ~~~ in Mikan's 2-star room ~~~

Mikan slowly opened her eyes and got up in the same instant, because the first thought that crosses her mind was of course her birthday. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and opened the curtains in front of her window.

"_Yeah it snows. I bet that's the present my father is sending me from above. Love ya daddy and thanx for the snow, I like it a lot" Mikan thought._

Then she went in the bathroom to take a long relaxing shower. She took her favorite shampoo which smells like strawberries and washed her waist long auburn hair. She brushed her teeth, dried her hair and put it into two childish lookin' pigtails.

Afterwards she stepped out of the bath and put on her kimono with the help of the

dorm robot. Mikan was nearly out of the door when she remembered that she wanted to ask the robot something.

"Happy new year robot-san. Have you by chance seen my friends around here somewhere?" Mikan asked while hopping up and down full of energy.

"No. I'm sorry Sakura-san, but I haven't seen any of them for the last 2 hours."

"Okay then I'll go searching for them. Anyway, thank you for helping me with the kimono." Mikan shouted in her usual cheerfulness already halfway through the hallway. Suddenly she bumped into something rather hard, but was pretty sure that it wasn't a wall. That turned out to be right, because walls can't speak.

"Oi little girl. Look where your runnin' next time. "

"Oh Natsume, look who's speaking. You could have paid attention, too. Ah …besides, do you know where Hotaru is?"

"Dunno. She probably hides from you."

"Meanie. How can you say that today?"

"…"

"Don't tell me you have forgotten what day today is?"

"..."

"It's my birthday you idiotic moron!!!" Mikan shouted while pouting.

"Whatever. Stop the noise, you make my ears bleed." mumbled Natsume and glared at her with full intensity.

"Oh come on. Can't you be nice to me once a year?"

"…"

"Fine, then I'll take my leave now." said Mikan, disappointment clearly visible in her big eyes with the color of melting chocolate. She turned around and was about to make the first step as a hand grabbed her wrist and stopped her from moving.

"Listen. I'll say this just once…" Mikan concentrated her mind on the husky voice behind her "... Congrats to your birthday _**Mikan**_."

"_What h-has…has he just said my name?!" _Mikan blushed a little, but managed to hide it from Natsume.

"Speechless now, are you? Then I'll take you to Imai now before you start bubbling stupid crap again." At this Mikan stayed silent and let Natsume drag her away.

…~~~~~~~~~~special ability clase room~~~~~~~~~~

*knock* *knock*

"Hey Imai. I have the baka with me."

"What took you so long Huyga?"

"…"

"Okay obviously it's that baka's fault. Now come in already or how long do you plan to chitchat with me trough the door?!"

He couldn't see it, but Natsume was pretty sure that Imai had already a twitching vein on her forehead, so before he could get her more annoyed, he opened the door and pulled Mikan with him. The room he entered was completely dark and because he had completed his task to bring Mikan along, he let go of her hand and put his hands in the pockets of his baggy jeans.

Mikan on the other hand was a little anxious because of the darkness, but it didn't last long then in the next moment the light went on and all her friends shouted:

"Happy birthday Mikan!"

Along with those shouts Anna and Nonoko ran towards her and hugged her immediately. Mikan let her look wandering through the crowd of friends and saw the faces of people she loved with all her heart. She felt like home, a comfortably warm prickle started to spread out in her whole body and she beamed the most adorable smile she could manage to her 'substitute family'. Although she was sad because she couldn't see her grandpa, she was absolutely positive about the fact that she'll have a super-great-fantastic birthday party and hopefully she'll at least receive a letter from him. The next thing she knew was that Tsubasa- and Misaki-sempai lifted her up and sang:

"For she's a jolly good fellow, for she's a jolly good fellow

For she's a jolly good fellow, which nobody can deny "

Mikan was so happy that she totally brightened the whole room with her smile and her laughter. As she was on her own 2 feet again Hotaru, Ruka, Yuu, Sumire, Koko, Mochiage and Kitsuneme came to her to congratulate her.

"Look Mikan, there in the corner is a table full of presents for you." stated Koko.

"And a lot of Howalon" added Sumire grinning.

From this point on they celebrated 'til nearly 11p.m. Mikan was chatting with Tsubasa about Tono-sempai who graduated already from the Academy as her uncle, the High School Principal and Narumi-sensei who was still their homeroom-teacher walked in the room.

"Hello uncle! Hello Narumi-sensei! Why are you here?" asked Mikan.

Her uncle walked towards her, stopped a step in front of her and with one hand he messed up her hair while chuckling softly.

"Of course we are here because of your birthday silly."

"Really?!" Mikan asked as her lips formed a smile.

"Yeah and we have a letter for you that arrived just 20 minutes ago." Narumi said or rather chirped.

"Wow…I knew it. I bet that's a letter from my grandpa. Oh thank you really really much for delivering it so fast to me. I'm very lucky to have such nice teachers."

She stretched her hands out and her uncle placed the letter in her palms.

She opened it without losing even a single second. But the more she red, the more her face stiffened and her eyes lost their shine. Hotaru was immediately by her side and was shocked, too as she grasped the content of the letter. It began with:

_Dear Mikan,_

_your old Ji-chan is unfortunately in medical care in the nearest hospital. __I know that the doctors try their best for me, but I heard a conversation between two nurses about my momentary state and they said that there is no hope for me to recover _

_So I thought in my last precious moments of life I write a letter to the only family that I have left, my above all beloved granddaughter that made the last years of my life a joy with only her bright smile. _

_Although I wish I could see that adorable smile once again your school prohibited that you visit me in the hospital or our little village. _

_So I'll at least explain some things to you in this letter. When you receive it, I'll be already dead, but don't be too sad, I'll greet your father in heaven from you and then we both watch together over you. I've already instructed a notary to sell of the house and then send you the money to your account and of course this letter._

_One last thing Mi-chan, remember the promise we made as you were 8 years old?_

_Please do your Ji-chan one last favor and try your hardest to keep it, okay?!_

_I love you my sweet little darling_

_Your Ji-chan_

_-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_Dear Mrs. Sakura,_

_As you red, this is the letter your grandfather left you behind._

_He died in the hospital one week ago. According to his wish I sold his house and belongings and transferred the sum of 200.000 rabbits to your account._

_For further information of his funeral please contact me and I'll be available with pleasure. My sincere condolences to the painful loss of your grandfather. He was a close friend of mine, too._

_Therefore I remain __in deep personal grief and the best hopes for you to live a wonderful live with the memories of your grandfather kept in your heart._

_Toudou-san_

While she red the letter tears had formed in her eyes and slowly flowed down her flawless face. In the instant she finished reading the last sentence her legs gave way, she slumped to the ground and her body started shaking uncontrollably.

Hotaru sank to the ground right next to Mikan and embraced her lightly.

At this sight all the other guests came and formed a circle around them. They all spoke in a complete mess, while Natsume just silently took a place on the other side of the girl he loved and intertwined his hand with hers.

Then finally they kept quiet and her uncle asked:

"Mikan, dear what's the matter?"

Like in slow motion Mikan lifted her head and as she faced the others they could only gasped for air in shock because nobody, absolutely nobody, not even her best friend Hotaru had ever seen this expression on her delicate face. She looked like she was in despair jet at the same time as if she couldn't feel anymore at all. Her whole body expressed the pain she felt. Her eyes had transformed into a dark ocean without a chance to see any sign of hope or light again. For a second Hotaru had the urge to listen to her heartbeat, just to control if there is still one.

So for Hotaru it was also obvious that the girl next to her wouldn't and couldn't answer the question, so she said in nearly a whisper:

"Her grandfather passed away a week ago. This is his farewell letter."

At first it seemed like some of her friends wanted to say something, but as they tried

no one found the right words. All what they possibly could say seemed to sound shallow and inappropriate, if it didn't tear open her wounds even more and increase her emotional pain. They were literally at a loss of words.

After 10 minutes in the same position Mikan's tears stopped flowing and she asked for a tissue. She dried her eyes and as she looked around she met crimson orbs which seemed to bring a little bit of warmth back into her body. She tried hard to speak a few words to her friends.

"I'm sorry that my party ends in such a mess. I hope you had a good time even if you had to see my ugly crying face." She laughed once, but it sounded more artificially than every plastic could ever be. She forced herself to speak further.

"So now, please don't take it to heart, but I feel like being alone some time, maybe the whole weekend."

Of course no one dared to utter a single word against that decision. They all slowly bid their good byes and good nights and went to their rooms. Only Natsume and Hotaru stayed by Mikans side.

"Oi little girl, are you really alright with this?"

"Yeah I need some time to think about some stuff and I don't want you to see me in so much pain, because I know that will cause you pain too."

Hotaru just sighted and said:

"But you know Mikan when you need us just say so. Here I'll give you this special cell phone. It has the numbers of everyone you know and when you feel like seeing someone feel free to call anytime. They all accepted this, so don't feel like you're a burden to us." with this Hotaru left Mikan and Natsume alone in the room.

Natsume pulled her in a sweet embrace and she rested her head on his chest. He leaned his head to her until his lips touched her ear, then he whispered:

"Hey polka…" he hesitated "…Mikan. Listen carefully. I won't ever let you down,okay? You can rely on me. Even when I'm on a mission, as Imai said, feel free to call me and I'll be there as soon as possible. "

As a sign that she heard him, Mikan slightly nodded her head.

"Then I take you to your room now" and with that he lifted her up bridal style with her head still rested on his chest. It took a few minutes to carry her there. He let her down on her bed and gave her a soft kiss on her forehead. Then he left her alone starring at the full moon and finding it somewhat comforting.

* * *

Hello everyone. This is my first fanfic, so I'll be glad about every review.

And of course all the characters and places that I used are owned by Tachibana Higuchi. (maybe except from Tokio xD)


	2. The promise

**Chapter 2: The promise**

It was the second January, a Saturday and the students in Gakuen Alice were eager to enjoy their free time. They wanted to spend their money in Central Town and the younger ones hoped for an increase of the snowfall, so that the still flat, white glistening hills would further pile up.

Mikan was in her room, sitting on the window-sill. She hadn't slept since Natsume left her alone, but stared the whole night at the hypnotizing full moon which seemed to suck in all of her sadness. She had watched how the sun rose up to the sky and tried to send a few rays of orange light through the clouds.

Now all she felt was a great emptiness. No pain, no tears, just her thoughts that reflected her loneliness. She knew all to well that she couldn't stay in her current condition forever.

When she compared her previous experience with the dead of an important person, she came to the conclusion that she matured. As Hotaru's penguin robot died five years ago she felt so helpless, useless and guilty, but now by her grandfathers dead she realized that he had led a happy life and had been content 'til his last moment. With this final thought that reassured her that she couldn't have done anything for him, she noticed the urge to lie down in her soft bed, shut her eyes and slowly drift into a sleep that would help her to recover.

~~~~~ Mikan POV ~~~~~

I opened my eyes and watched how a new world unfolds itself to me. The first thing that occurred to my mind was that I believed to recognize the surroundings.

I saw large trees with leaves in every shade of green that formed a small forest. I stood at its edge and walked in, conscious of following a sudden intuition. There wasn't really a path, but for some reason or other I knew exactly how to move and which way to take in this wood that appeared to be like a maze.

After a time period that felt like eternity I reached a lovely little glade with flowers of every shape and color all over the place. There were tiny white daisies that were hardly visible in the high grass, sweet smelling wild roses, lilacs in a rich purple tone, bright yellow sunflowers and poppies in a shining red.

I heard the splashing of a brook and noticed a young girl with her brown hair in two pigtails sitting next to an old bald man on a huge stone. As I walked towards them and took a better look, I saw that it was me and my grandpa. I stopped a few meters in front of them to listen to their conversation; somehow I was pretty sure that they couldn't see me.

"Mi-chan have I ever told you about your grandma?"

"No Ji-chan." little Mikan replied cheerfully.

"Unfortunately she died before you were born, but she was the most beautiful and nicest woman I ever met. Everybody loved her. I met her when I was 16 and it was love at first sight. She was always energetic, optimistic and brought happiness to everyone around her."

"Woooow! She must've been amazing. Aww I wish I could've met her." Mikan said while pouting cutely.

"Mi-chan would you promise me something?"

"Of course!" Mikan answered immediately, stopped pouting and looked with big eyes full of expectation to her grandfather.

"Please be always so happy and smile brightly. I bet you will also help someone with that attitude of yours and change this person's life for the better. Just like your grandma did, for a poor guy that just recently lost his parents. She gave him hope and encouraged him and he turned out to be the luckiest guy on earth because she also married him."

"It was you?!" Mikan shouted surprised.

"Yeah it was. So tell me, will you keep that promise?"

"Pinky promise" Mikan said and reached out her pinky to intertwine it with the pinky of her grandpa.

"Pinky promise" he agreed, intertwined the two pinkies and after sealing the promise he began to lightly stroke her back.

~~~~~ End of POV ~~~~~

Suddenly the view of 15-year-old Mikan became blurry and then all she could see was plain darkness. At the beginning she felt a little bit frightened but then she heard a song and all her fears flew away.

With this song in her mind she fluttered her eyes open and awoke to reality. She looked around in her room and until her eye caught sight of the alarm clock. It was already 5 p.m.

She stood up from her bed and opened the window to breathe some cold, refreshing air. Slowly the images she had from her dream came to her mind. She remembered this promise; she made it with her grandfather as she turned 8 years old. The song also kept whirring in her head and because she found it so beautiful she began to sing.

_(song by Leonard Cohen: Hallelujah)_

_Now I've heard there was a secret chord  
That David played, and it pleased the Lord  
But you don't really care for music, do you?  
It goes like this  
The fourth, the fifth  
The minor fall, the major lift  
The baffled king composing Hallelujah_

_Hallelujah  
Hallelujah  
Hallelujah  
Hallelujah_

_Your faith was strong but you needed proof  
You saw her bathing on the roof  
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew her  
She tied you  
To a kitchen chair  
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair  
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah_

_Hallelujah, Hallelujah  
Hallelujah, Hallelujah  
You say I took the name in vain  
I don't even know the name  
But if I did, well really, what's it to you?  
There's a blaze of light  
In every word  
It doesn't matter which you heard  
The holy or the broken Hallelujah_

_Hallelujah, Hallelujah  
Hallelujah, Hallelujah_

_I did my best, it wasn't much  
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch  
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you  
And even though  
It all went wrong  
I'll stand before the Lord of Song  
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah_

_Hallelujah, Hallelujah  
Hallelujah, Hallelujah_

After she finished singing she felt surprisingly better, not just better, she kind of felt determined. And then one thought crossed her mind.

"_**I'll keep that promise. I'll keep it with all I've got for my Ji-chan."**_

Of course she wasn't so stupid as to try to immediately act as the same happy-go-lucky girl as always in front of her friends. So she decided to stay in her room for the whole weekend and keep a low pace to return to her normal lifestyle.

"_But maybe….maybe I could change a little. I mean just to show that I can compensate this tragedy and not just put up an act to satisfy the people around me. _

_I want to change, so that I can bring even more joy into their lives. What do you think Ji-chan? Can you hear me up there? If yes, then just watch me. I'll make you proud."_

* * *

In the next chapter the romance will finally start. Until now I needed to explain a lot of things so thanks for being patient. ^^


	3. The new image

**Chapter 3: ****The new image**

"zzzzzt…zzzzzt…"

As she heard these unusual sounds Mikan awoke and wondered were it came from with her eyes still closed.

"zzzzzt…zzzzzt…"

She blinked a few times and then slowly opened her eyes completely to find the cause of this noise, which appeared to be her vibrating cell phone that lay on her bedside table right next to her. So she took her cell to check who called her.

"Hey Mikan will you come to school today?"

"Hotaru?" Mikan asked in disbelievement.

"Who else?"

"Aww…stop the sarcasm Hotaru. It's still too early in the morning for that."

"So what about school?"

"Sure I'll come. Can't be depressed forever, can I?"

"Good to hear. See you later then."

"Yeah. Bye Hotaru."

After she ended the call, she took a glance a her alarm clock to see that it was really still early. The clock showed that it was only a few minutes past 6 a.m. School starts at 8 a.m., so she'll have more than enough time to get ready.

At first she took a long relaxing shower. Then she brushed her teeth, combed her hair and put it into her usual two pigtails as suddenly a memory flashed through her mind.

~~~~~* Flashback start *~~~~~

Mikan, Natsume, Ruka and Tsubasa-sempai were on their way to get the medicine for Hotaru and Tobita's Alice back from the AAO. Ruka and she were ordered to get water for them all. As they arrived at the sea they saw a beautiful glistening moon. Ruka went away in attempt to find Natsume to show him the image of this amazing view, too. As he left, Mikan noticed that Natsume was already there, sitting just 2 meters away from her and she tried to talk with him, but as always they ended up arguing. Suddenly Natsume spoke with a serious expression on his face.

"Hey…ugly girl."

"I'm not answering you…" Mikan said with a vein twitching on her forehead.

"Do you still plan to have that kind of hairstyle in five years' time?"

"…what?" Mikan asked annoyed jet confused.

"That hairstyle won't be suitable in five years' time. Put your hair down."

"You…what are you…Suddenly saying that kinda thing." Mikan said while blushing lightly.

"Put it down. It looks better that way." Natsume stated calm.

"Who's just gonna listen to what you say…" Mikan shouted while blushing even more.

~~~~~* Flashback end *~~~~~

Back in reality Mikan counted back and realized that it was exactly five years ago since he old her that. Out of impulse she followed his device and put her hair down. Her glossy auburn hair flew in soft waves down her back to her waist. Her big shining eyes, which had the color of melting chocolate, looked at her appearance in the mirror.

Her eyes were surrounded by a thick wreath of long, black eyelashes. Her skin was smooth, cream-white and delicate like porcelain. She got a slender frame, endless long legs and curves at exactly the right places. However nobody knew that because she always wore her school uniform two numbers too big. Even Natsume called her still flat chested although she actually had C-cup boobs. That arrogant jerk.

Mikan put a little strawberry gloss on her lips and got dressed. She decided that from now on she'll wear her uniform in the size that would really fit her body.

She put on the white blouse but kept the two upper buttons open. Also she loosened the tie around her neck and left her blazer open. Her skirt covered her thighs only up to the half and the loosesocks that she put on reached upon a few inches above her knee, leaving exactly the right amount of skin cloth less to make all boys go crazy. She smirked at her image in the mirror and thought: _"Well now let the fun begin." _

And with this she grabbed her bag and stepped out of her room to meet her friends in the cafeteria for breakfast.

As she entered the cafeteria she could hear gasps and saw boys drooling over her. While the major part of the students asked themselves who this drop dead gorgeous girl could be, Hotaru's eyes widened in surprise, but nearly not visible, as she noticed Mikan's new look. But that didn't even last three seconds and Hotaru then gave Mikan a sign to come over to her table.

"Good morning Hotaru!" Mikan said cheerfully.

"G' morning. I see you finally dress yourself appropriate to your age. Has that by chance anything to do with the dead of your grandpa?"

"Kinda. Remember the letter? I just try to fulfill the promise we made."

"As long as you're happy with it, it's fine with me. But don't rush yourself 'kay?"

"Yeah Hotaru. I know. Thank you for worrying. "

And with that Mikan got her meal and they started eating with what felt like a million eyes on them. The next thing you could hear was a lot of "ouch" and "ah, that hurts" because Hotaru was totally annoyed of all those stares and shot everyone with her baka-gun that unwisely tried to took a glance at them.

After they finished their breakfast they went to their classroom and as they entered it you could hear again a lot of "wow's", gasps and even a few whistles from the boys. On the other hand the most girls, especially Luna and her supporters had clearly jealousy written in their eyes.

Anna, Nonoko and Sumire came towards Hotaru and Mikan and asked in unison: "Who is this Hotaru? A new student? When did she transfer?"

Hotaru rolled her eyes and spoke with a tone of annoyance in her voice.

"Are you dumb or are you simply blind now? It's just Mikan."

Instantly the three of them looked at Mikan and eyed her from head to toe.

"Unbelievable…" Sumire whisered.

"Really? Mikan it's you?" Anna asked.

"Yeah. Of course it's me." Mikan said while chuckling.

"How are you feelin'? Are you still sad?" Nonoko questioned with a voice full of concern.

"Nah…I'm fine. I realized that life must go on, so you don't have to worry so badly."

"We're glad then." The three of them said in unison again.

Natsume who had slept sitting on his bench with a manga covering his face, woke up from all the commotion and as he felt the presence of a person beneath him, he glanced to his side wondering if Mikan would look all right. Then it hit him.

"_Who is this hottie? And what the hell…why is she sitting here at Mikan's place? __No…that can't be…nah…that's ridiculous…but she kind of looks like her…is it really Mikan?" _Natsume's mind was busy figuring out if his suspicion could be right as he heard a high pitched voice which obviously belonged to the slut Luna asking something.

"Hey girlie who do you think you are? You can't just sit next to my Natsume! Get away from him!"

Meanwhile Mikan just chuckled and then answered softly.

"And who do you think you are? His girlfriend? I have all the right of the world to sit next to my partner so could you please shut up and get your stupid face out of my vision."

As the words finally reached Luna's pea brain she immediately got pissed and tried to slap Mikan in the face, but was stopped when Natsume hold her wrist and gave her a death glare.

"You heard her. Get lost or I'll burn your hair."

Even more pissed Luna glared at Mikan and then turned around to walk to her seat, her brainless followers always by her side.

Now of course Natsume was sure that it was Mikan, simply because she herself had said that he was her partner a moment ago. But after he realized that, he was even more surprised. As he turned his face towards her, he found her looking at him with a sweet smile on her beautiful face.

Mikan noticed that Natsume finally looked at her and her smile grew wider by the moment.

"Good Morning Natsume and thanks for shooing Luna away. She can be really annoing sometimes."

Natsume smirked. It seemed that Mikan was alright although her grandfather died just a week ago. Deep inside of him he felt relieved, but for sure he would never admit it.

"Whatever polka."

"You're the same old pervert as always." Mikan said while sighting. "But I have to disappoint you, I'm not wearing polkas today, so why don't you call me by my name?"

"Hn. Tryin' to be smart strawberries?" Natsume said and raised one eyebrow.

"That's not correct either. Well when you really can't help it, the right term would be pink lace, but I bet that you wouldn't dare to call me that, because then everyone would know that you're actually a big fat pervert. Hmm…although, when I think about it once more I think they already know that. However 'til later then Nat."

Mikan said trying not to laugh and then winked at him before walking over to Hotaru and the others again, leaving a somewhat stunned Natsume behind. But after a few seconds his puzzled face turned into a smirk again and he thought:

"_So now she'__s trying to play games. That'll be interesting"_

_

* * *

_

Hello everyone. Thank you for reviewing, it makes me really happy^^


	4. The unexpected event

**Chapter 4:****The unexpected event **

The whole day the students of her class kept staring at Mikan. From the boy's side you could hear soft mutters like:

"Do you think she would go out with me?"

"Are you stupid? You know that when you lay a hand on her Natsume will burn you to ashes before you have the chance to say anything."

"Aww that's too bad. Well at least I can see her everyday."

"What are you, a stalker?" *laughter*

"Don't joke around. I'm just saying that it's quiet nice to have such a hottie like her in our class."

"You've got that right man."

In the meantime Mikan was busy chatting with her friends as suddenly out of nowhere Narumi-sensei popped in the room and interrupted their talk because of an announcement he had to make.

"My dear little students I have something reeeally great to tell you!"

"Yeah yeah…cut out this freaky gay-voice of yours and get down to business already!" one of the boys shouted.

"Aww…please don't speak so to me." Narumi said with his sweetest voice and used his pheromone alice on the student.

"Has anyone else something to say?" he asked with an almost normal (so normal how Narumi can be) voice.

"N…N-No sensei." The class answered.

"Fine. Then I can finally tell you what activity the principal planned for you."

The students looked at him with curiosity clearly visible in their eyes, but no one dared to utter a single word because they didn't want to make acquaintance with his alice.

"Tonight you'll walk through the north forest and then we'll all meet at the school building again and watch a horror movie. Of course you'll walk in groups."

"How many students can be in one group and who decides with whom we are in a group?" Sumire asked while daydreaming herself being in a group with Natsume and Ruka.

"Oh that's pretty easy since each group will have 2 students, a girl and a boy and your partner will be the one I gave you back in elementary school."

Narumi looked around but there were no more questions.

"Then I'll take my leave now. Don't forget meeting place tonight is the middle school building at 10p.m. Bye." And with these last words he went out of the door.

Afterwards immediately everyone started talking. Hotaru invented a camera that would take pictures of Ruka during the entire night by flying in front of both of them.

Anna and Nonoko were chatting happily with Yuu and Kitsuneme about the upcoming "event" while Koko teased Sumire that her thoughts were as odd and boring as ever because she still kept daydreaming about her two "prince charmings".

Mikan slowly approached Natsume and sat herself next to him.

"Hey Natsume are you okay with it?"

"Okay with what little girl?"

"With us being partnered up for tonight?"

"Hn."

"I'll take that as a yes then."

"Hn."

"Okay, it's alright. I understand that you don't give a damn about this school activity but you know…you simply have to come because as you perhaps remember I'll get easily frightened when it's dark and there is no way that I'll make my way through the forest alone."

"Who said your going to be alone?" Natsume said with a bored face but thought:

"_Of course I know that. And that's exactly why there's no way that I'll miss this. I bet when she's frightened she'll cling to me all the time.*smirk* "_

"So you're really coming? That's awesome! See you later then!" and in the blink of an eye Mikan was vanished from his sight again.

~~~~~ Middle school building 10 p.m. ~~~~~

"Is everyone with their partner? Good then follow me now." Narumi said and walked in the direction of the north forest. As they reached its edge they were teleported to the other side of the forest by some older students.

"Listen. Tonight your goal is it to walk through the wood and reach the other side 'til 2 a.m. I'm now going to hand out compasses that were especially made for this activity. Each group will get one of those. They aren't like ordinary compasses, they don't show you were north is but instead the way out of the forest. Well then we have ten groups and five entrances in the distance of 100 meters. So the first five groups will start now and the next a few minutes later."

As the first groups began their way Mikan felt the nervousness welling up inside of her. Nevertheless she stepped in front of one of the entrances with Natsume by her side and the compass in her trembling palm. She took a deep breath and walked into the forest the moment Narumi-sensei gave the signal.

The minutes passed and the two of them went deeper and deeper into the darkness.

Natsume noticed that Mikan trembled even more than before and so he grabbed her wrist to make her stop.

"Oi lil' girl you seem to be scared."

"I…I'm n-not." Mikan answered defiant.

"Sure and why are you stuttering then?" Natsume asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not you idiot. Can we continue finally or how long do you plan to stay here?"

"Suit yourself." Natsume said and went past her with a couple of steps.

It was quiet obvious that Mikan was frightened of her surroundings and tried her best to hide it from Natsume, but sometime even she reached her limit and so she run after her partner as fast as she could.

"Wait! Please wait for me Natsume!"

He stopped in his tracks as he heard her calling and turned around just to see that she tripped over a stone and somehow he managed to prevent her from falling by holding her very close to him. *crack*

"T-Thank you for helping me" Mikan whispered.

"It's alright but what the hell was this *crack* a moment ago?"

"Oh I bet that was the compass I was holding" Mikan answered carefree, still not realizing the consequences of that accident.

"Are you stupid? How can you say that so easily you baka? You do know what that means do you?"

"What do you mean Mr. High and mighty…you always do missions so I expect you to know your way around here!" Mikan shouted nervous while the first doubts came to her mind.

"Stupid! Of course the missions are not here in the north forest or do you think the AAO headquarters would be on the property of the academy?"

"I…I…w-what should we do then?"

"When we keep wandering around without a direction we definitely get lost. Let's stay here 'til the teachers notice our absence and send somebody to get us. Worst scenario would probably be to be stuck here 'til tomorrow morning."

"So we're stuck here?" Mikan asked with disbelieve.

"Yup." Natsume replied, sat on the cold earth and leaned his back against a tree.

Mikan looked around in attempt to find a solution for her current situation, but all she saw and heard were creepy shadows and sounds that kept her in fear.

"Hey polka…" Natsume said so that Mikan would turn around to face him "…why don't you place your ass next to me instead of standing their like a statue?"

"I can sit where I want you arrogant jerk!" Mikan answered while pouting but nevertheless took the place beneath him.

"Whatever baka." Natsume replied coldly.

After a few minutes Natsume noticed that Mikan shivered. He then eyed her clothes and sighted. What was this girl thinking not wearing her coat in the middle of the winter? So he decided to use his alice a little bit to warm her up.

In the meantime Mikan thought:

"_Damn! Why am I stuck here with this idiot? __Oh yeah because of this ridiculous school activity. I should have known it…I just have the worst luck ever. He? What's that? Why does it suddenly become warmer? Is it perhaps Natsume?"_

At this thought Mikan stared at Natsume.

"Hey Natsume are you using your alice?"

"Hn."

"You shouldn't. You know that your body get's weaker by time."

"Not your business polka."

"Are you so cold then?"

"Tsk. As if."

"But then why do you …" and in that instant you could practically see a light bulb lighten up over Mikan's head with a *kaching* "…you're doing this for me, aren't you?"

Hearing her conclusion Natsume blushed slightly. Seeing this Mikan had the second light bulb over her head glowing like crazy.

"You know…you don't have to do this."

"So what? You want to freeze yourself to death baka?"

"Of course not, but I think there is another method to keep me warm."

"And what would that be?" Natsume asked slowly getting annoyed.

"You'll see." Mikan said chuckling and then sat herself closer to Natsume and hugged him.

"So that was what you had in mind." Natsume stated completely taken by surprise.

"Not good?" Mikan asked with a blush spreading all over her face.

"No, absolutely not good enough." He replied and then put her into a tight embrace and covered the blush on his cheeks with his bangs.

"Okay I'm fine with that." Mikan said and giggled.

"Just shut your mouth a moment, will ya polka?!

"I won't follow your order. You know your not my master Huyga and I can say what I want whenever I want."

"If you don't stop blabbering in the next second, I'll make sure to keep that mouth of you closed myself."

"Oh yeah and how do you plan on achieving that goal?"

"You'll see." He said mischievous, using the same words as she with full intention.

"What's that supposed to mean you idi…" however she couldn't complete her sentence because soft lips laid on hers and made her fall silent. At first her eyes widened in shock and she felt like paralyzed, but then she recovered herself and began to reply to the kiss. After a while they needed to break free for some air and with their faces just inches apart Natsume whispered with his deep husky voice

"You actually enjoyed it, huh?"

"Whatever." Mikan answered and to Natsumes surprise pulled him into a sweet and tender kiss again. As they broke away from each other for the second time they just stayed silent. Mikan snuggled herself more into Natsume's strong protective arms and they looked together at the beautiful sky that possessed millions of shining stars.

* * *

_Hey everyone. Hope the story is to your liking so far. And again thanx for reviewing :D_


	5. worry and shock

**Chapter five: worry and shock**

It wasn't until the sun started rising that Natsume awoke. The reason were the slight sounds he heard. The soft rustling of the bushes could have been from animals or from the wind which blew through the last leaves that bristled against the winter, but he knew better. After a few seconds he found his assumptions confirmed as Persona walked towards him.

„I thought I made it clear that you'd better stay away from this Sakura-girl or do you want punishment so badly?"

This sentence shot right through him and for the first time this morning he noticed the warmth in his arms. Mikan was still in his embrace and cuddled her head against his chest while muttering words that were too low to hear.

Still enchanted by the mere fact that she was by his side the whole night, he nearly missed the next words of his most hated teacher.

„...mission, so come right with me. Maybe I'll spare you the punishment if you succeed in this one."

Natsume gritted his teeth, but knew it wouldn't do any good if he didn't follow Personas order. He carefully shifted Mikan so, that her body could lean against the tree and stroked a few strands of hair behind her ear. Then he disappeared before his guilt could get any worse.

Mikan on the other hand sleeped until she felt a shot of the baka-gun hit her head and came to her feet while cursing whatever had cursed this pain.

She then frantiqually searched for the source of her pains and looked really bewildered to find it in Hotaru.

„Hotaruuu!! How come you are here?"

The next thing Mikan felt was the punch of a second baka-gun.

„Ow ow ow! Hotaru what was that for?"

„For being an idiot."

At this Mikan began muttering something about why she was always treated like this and how mean her best friend was, but stopped immediately at the sight of a baka-gun aimed at her direction. So she started thinking about the whereabouts of Natsume and how Hotaru found her. However she had to admit that she had no clue, so she decided to ask her annoyed genius best friend.

„Hotaru how did you found me and do you know were Natsume went off to?"

„I used my newest invention: the baka-finder and I really don't care where the other idiot headed to. Now come and take my hand, Narumi gave me an teleportationstone so that we can return quicker. Although he annoys everyone because he's going overboard with his worrying this gay teacher can be useful sometimes."

Mikan giggled at the imagination of a Narumi who kept running in circles til he was kneedeep in the ground, but the question where Natsume was still kept lingering in her mind. Nontheless she took Hotarus hand and they teleported to the middle school department were Narumi waited for them to confirm Mikans safety.

Afterwards he sent them to their dorm to rest from the tiring night. They both went to Hotarus room because Mikan told her that she wasn't the least bit tired, rather it was the opposite, she slept quiet well and had lots of energy. So she blubbered in a super-high-speed voice while Hotaru worked on her inventions.

„How was the movie last night? I bet it was scary. But you know I kinda like scary movies, the adrenaline shot you get by watchin' feels exciting, doesn't it? Well, I wonder who was the first who came out of the forest. Were it you and Ruka? It must be you, because Ruka could ask the animals for the way, right? Hmm...but that's not fair when you have such an advantage. Natsume was no help at all. He was all grumpy and didn't talk much like always. But now that I mention him, I get the feeling that I forgot about something. Hey Hotaru, do you even listen to me?"

And those were the last words before Hotaru kicked her out of her room and pinned a poster on her door with the inscription:

„DO NOT DISTURB. ESPIACALLY NOT MIKAN SAKURA."

„_Oh fine then I go for a walk by myself" thought the said girl and turned her back to the door._

She wandered around the campus until she reached her destination: the sakura tree. She came here in hope to distract her mind but it stayed occupied in figuring out, what she had forgotten that was connected to the boy who shared the tree with her. While her thoughts swirled inside her head she suddenly heard the sound of crunching snow. She turned around and found herself face to face with Natsume who made another step towards her.

She was utterly shocked at the casual look on his face. She was irritated and wanted to wipe that big fat smirk out of his face with all her might. It took her a few moments to regain her composure 'til she finally said:

„Where do you went last night? Leaving me alone in this dark forest. And what's with the stupid smirk?"

„None of your business" he answered emotionless but at the same time he took another step to decrease the distance between them.

„It is! I was worried about you" she blurted out, but in the next instant her hands flew on her mouth as to prevent this foolish lips from ever open up again.

„Oh really?" he asked in an arrogant tone and Mikan could swear she saw his grin got even wider.

She didn't know what to say, but she remembered that she promised to be as happy as she could for the sake of her grandpa and a she was positive to achieve that by standing her ground against Natsume.

„Yeah. I mean, who wouldn't be. It's only natural to be worried over a classmate who went missing in the middle of the night when we're supposed to be stuck together in the forest" she stated, trying to act cool.

„ 'Classmate' huh?" Natsume asked and raised an eyebrow.

„Yeah a classmate. What else could you be?"

„Whatever. Just thought you wouldn't kiss a mere classmate."

Mikan felt like lightning had stroked her because now the memories of her and Natsume kissing last night came back piece by piece. She blushed ten shades of red and couldn't bring up enough courage to look at him anymore.

The next thing she heard was a soft chuckle followed by Natsumes hand that lifted her chin up, so that her eyes met with his red orbs. For a moment she just stared into his eyes, warm flames that captured her, but then she felt his warm breath on her cheek.

„Should I kiss you again?"

Well that certainly was just a rhetorical question because he didn't wait for the answer and just brought his lips onto hers or so was at leats his intention. Mikan in the meantime was busy thinking for a solution to get out of this...well dangerous situation and with a sudden rush of adrenaline pushed him away.

He landed in the snow and his eyes were narrowed to thin slices as he got up and walked straight towards her again. Mikan stood there, not able to move even an inch. It was as if his eyes made her body frozen at this spot. As he was right in front of her he hit the tree with his fist right next to her head and the only words that escaped his mouth were:

„Fine. There's always a next time polka."

With this he went away, leaving Mikan as confused as she were before.

* * *

_wow. Finally I can continue with the story. It's the first vacation I've got in my new job since last august and I'm so happy that the ideas just came to my mind like there wasn't such a long period of time in between. Well maybe there's a mistake regarding the content...but I tried hard to make it seem fluently written. thanks for reading and reviewing :D_


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